Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Wed Nov 20th Todays News

The well remunerated ABC are aiming for a diplomatic incident between Australia and Indonesia. They hope that people will drown, and they blame Abbott for Rudd's indiscretions. But not all Rudd's indiscretions. There is the matter of Rudd's attempted assassination of the top leaders of Timor in '08. No media reports about that because it doesn't reflect badly on Abbott. Nothing that has been trumped up between Australia and Indonesia reflects badly on Abbott, but Indonesia is gearing up for election and media are allowing grandstanders to capture the public eye at the expense of good government. It is illustrative of what the media do in Australia too, which is why the Liberal Government in Victoria is struggling. Certainly the ALP offer nothing beyond corruption for Victorians, but the media would have you believe Victorians hunger for bad government. Zero Tolerance works to stop violence. Police need this scope to address drunken violence which has claimed lives recently. Good government would act to implement it. Mr O'Farrell, will you act on this? ALP leaders may not have integrity, but they have conviction that they are right. That kind of hubris can't be healthy, and evidently isn't. Still, it allowed a bad marriage between the ALP and Greens. But like all bad marriages, there is now a dispute over how to divide the innocent ones. The wisdom of Solomon assumes a good parent. Neither fits that description. They kill asylum seekers just to appear compassionate. Is there hope for ALP leader Shorten? Bolt thought so for a few moments, but no. Shorten has all the ability of a Nathan Reese who has stepped down as ALP shadow minister in NSW after caught having an extra marital affair with a constituent. I still won't contact Zangari, who is my local member. But I know Zangari won't help me because he says so. A special shout out to Pope Francis. I'm not Catholic, but approve of his message and actions. Not all conservatives agree on everything. That is something that lefties do, and it results in group think. which results in things like the Obama Presidency and NSW ALP corruption. Francis is right to point to what unites his flock, not dwell on what divides it. But then Francis is not paid to lie and mislead as the ABC is. Also, many applause from me to the Executive Council of Australia Jewry who made a media release on the Armenian Genocide issue. I agree with the executive council on each point. Free speech means that idiot is allowed to say what he allegedly thinks. It also means I am free to show how stupid such 'thoughts' are. To suggest the killing of a million people over years was not something a government is responsible for is no different to voting for a person who has a particular skin colour. It is bigoted and inexcusable. It is irresponsible and natural justice suggests that it be addressed and redressed. I note it is not technically feasible to raise the dead or take back torture, so monetary compensation is part of what must happen. Also, those who have held up the process of natural justice should face jail.
===

Hatches

Happy birthday and many happy returns Daniel Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, along with

Miranda Devine – Wednesday,November 20,2013 (8:35am)

WHY did The Guardian sit on its bombshell allegations about Australia spying on Indonesia for five months?

The timing of its joint story with the ABC on Monday could not be more damaging. It came at a crucial point in Australian-Indonesian relations, when the new Abbott government had achieved fresh co-operation on people smuggling, and was beginning to “stop the boats”.

And yet the left-leaning British newspaper has had the information about Australia’s surveillance activity at least since June. That was when former CIA computer specialist Edward Snowden gave all the top-secret documents he stole from the US National Security Agency to selected journalists before fleeing to Moscow, the New York Times said.

Asked about the curious timing of the story, Guardian Australia editor Katharine Viner said yesterday that she only “got the material in the last few days”. The newspaper’s “US team” had been “carefully going through thousands of Snowden documents. (It’s a very) lengthy process.”

Speaking at a media forum at the Opera House last week, Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian’s international editor, divulged just how strategic the newspaper’s approach has been to Snowden’s material.

“We’ve published 17 documents (since June). So we haven’t been rushing this stuff out. We’ve been thinking about it.”

The Australian spy story, published on Monday by The Guardian and the ABC, was based on a Snowden leak of a PowerPoint presentation from Australia’s Defence Signals Directorate. It revealed covert surveillance on 10 high-ranking Indonesians over 15 days in August 2009, when Kevin Rudd was prime minister.

The document was marked “Top Secret”.

On Monday morning, hours before publication, The Guardian and the ABC are believed to have asked the Office of National Assessments, Australia’s security agency, for a formal response.

ABC chief Mark Scott yesterday told the parliamentary communications legislation committee that The Guardian brought the story to him last week. He knew “the release of some of this material may cause difficulties in the Australia-Indonesia relationship in the short term”.

But he said publication was “absolutely in the public interest and it was probably in the national interest in the long term”. It would allow debate about “the nature and the extent of intelligence activities undertaken by Australia”.

That sounds noble, but the truth is Snowden is not a hero whistleblower. He is a criminal fugitive who has damaged the national interest of the US and its allies and is crippling their ability to keep citizens safe.

Britain’s MI5 boss Andrew Parker said last month The Guardian had handed a ‘’gift’’ to terrorists by publishing Snowden’s stolen information. “It causes enormous damage to make public the reach and limits of (spy agency) techniques,” Parker said.

So it’s doubtful Scott is correct when he says his story was in Australia’s long term interest. But what is certain is that it has been an immediate diplomatic catastrophe which threatens to derail the Abbott government’s efforts to stop illegal boat arrivals.

The predictable consequence of publication was that Indonesia recalled its ambassador and stated it would review all “co-operation” with Australia. In case there was any doubt about the implications for border security, the ABC helpfully asked Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. “Of course,” he said, silkily. “People smuggling information in general.”

This is the end game for the bleeding heart Left and its media enablers: to prevent the Abbott government from fulfilling its election promise to “stop the boats”.

To curry favour with the Left, Rudd had dismantled the hard-won Howard government border protection policies in 2008.

Since then, more than 50,000 asylum seekers arrived and more than 1000 had drowned.

Rudd’s so-called “compassionate” approach proved a humanitarian disaster, as well as an assault on national sovereignty. It closed the door on genuine refugees and drove economic migrants from the Middle East into the arms of con-artist people smugglers, where they lost their life’s savings and, sometimes, their lives.

But Labor, the Greens, and the refugee industry have never admitted culpability. As the bodies piled up, their callousness knew no bounds.

Yesterday, Greens leader Christine Milne could barely contain her glee when she joined former Labor foreign minister Bob “Chutzpah” Carr to demand Abbott apologise to Indonesia.She blames Abbott even though in August, 2009 he was the shadow indigenous affairs minister, and was visiting Cape York.

“Part of what our Prime Minister did in the lead-up to the election set the stage for this by trying to flex muscles towards Indonesia in a fairly insulting way and the Indonesians are now responding,” said Milne.

The Greens and their ilk are in denial over the fact that the open border policy they urged on Rudd amounted to a controlled experiment over five years which has exploded the myth that the policies of the Left are “compassionate”.

Miranda Devine – Wednesday,November 20,2013 (7:37am)

The former detective’s common sense prescriptions met rapturous approval from 500 people who gathered in Martin Place to protest the lenient sentence handed to the killer of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly.

“There are reasons why we have victims like Thomas Kelly,” Priest told the rally.

“The police have had their hands tied for 20 years when dealing with serious violent offenders.”

When he was a cop he would throw inebriated troublemakers into his paddywagon and lock them up for the night.

“But now people can do what they want .”

He wants the O’Farrell government to take a zero tolerance approach to street offences.

“Every crime matters. The guy that swears on the train on the way to the city, the guy that urinates in the bushes at Hyde Park, potentially is a king-hit merchant and if you stop him at this first level before he goes any further you might not have incidents like Thomas Kelly.”

He also called for mandatory minimum sentencing for violent crimes.

“Judges have let us down time and time again.”

He wants judges placed on five-year contracts. “If they don’t perform they go.”

Miranda Devine – Tuesday,November 19,2013 (1:57pm)

It is good news for practising Catholics, as well as for the prodigal sons and daughters of the Church, that Pope Francis has inspired a popular faith resurgence.

Church attendances are up as much as 20 percent in Britain and mid-week papal audiences in St Peter’s Square have swelled.

In Australia, too, there has been an influx of new believers or lapsed Catholics rejoining church pews on Sundays.

There was a “noticeable increase” in the congregation at St Mary’s Cathedral, and in suburban churches, after the Pope’s election, said a Sydney Archdiocese spokesperson.

The “Francis effect” even has led to an increase in the numbers going to confession.

People are attracted to the Pope’s humility, pastoral approach and forgiving language.

But the Pope has also become a media darling because of comments mischievously interpreted to mean he plans to soften church teachings on divisive social issues.

“The Church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules [and] we cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods” the Pope said in an interview in September.

This won him new fans among people usually hostile to the Catholic Church – even atheists and The Guardian newspaper - who claim he is ushering in a new era of social liberalism, and repudiating his predecessors, Pope Benedict and John Paul II.

But this is wishful thinking which ignores his central point, overlooked in the same interview.

Pope Francis has no intention of changing church doctrine, but he is offering forgiveness and mercy to those he says are sinners just like him.

That is not a repudiation of faithful Catholics, as the enemies of the Church would like to think. It is a Christian act of love and reconciliation that can only strengthen the ancient institution.

Tim Blair – Wednesday,November 20,2013 (11:52am)

The ABC is paying eight broadcasters more than $250,000 a year, with Q&A and Lateline host Tony Jones leading the pack on an annual salary of more than $350,000 …

The salary documents obtained by The Australian contain a breakdown of $453m spent in 2011-12 on 5511 employees. Jones is the public broadcaster’s highest-paid presenter, earning $355,789 in basic pay last year, but he is yet to hit the pay level reached by former long-serving 7.30 Report host Kerry O’Brien, who earned $365,246 in 2009-10, according to the documents.

Click for further details on how the ABC spends your money. It’s a transparency and accountability story that the ABC doesn’t like. This is especially interesting:

Former Media Watch presenter Jonathon Holmes, who had expressed opposition to the release of ABC salary information, was earning $187,380 as host of the weekly 15-minute program before he was replaced by Paul Barry in July. The program’s executive producer, Lin Buckfield, is on $146,000.

Holmes previously denounced a climate sceptic group that received annual private funding of only $100,000, which is substantially less than he was paid to present his little TV show. He also recently warned that ABC funding cuts of just1.6 per cent to 3.3 per cent would have “devastating consequences” for the ABC.

Tim Blair – Tuesday,November 19,2013 (4:51am)

The attempted hacking took place four years ago, when Labor was in power and Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister. At the time of the attempt, in August 2009, Abbott wasn’t even the opposition leader. He was the shadow minister for indigenous affairs. During the same month that a Labor government was hacking phones, Abbott was working as a truancy officer at Aurukun in Cape York.

FORMER intelligence officials have confirmed it
was likely the 2009 operation to spy on the Indonesian President was
ticked off by senior cabinet ministers at the time.This would have been
either the defence minister, the foreign minister or the
attorney-general…
Intelligence sources say there is no way DSD would conduct an operation like that without ministerial cover.
Which makes Bob Carr’s call for Tony Abbott to apologise ridiculous.
Carr alluded to as much when he admitted that either the defence or
foreign minister at the time would have known or should have known. So
this would make it Labor’s apology to make, if there was one to make at
all.
It also makes Bill Shorten’s momentary lapse in bipartisanship by
calling on Abbott to take the Obama route and say sorry to SBY smack of
craven political opportunism.

[Opposition Leader Bill] Shorten's shortage of parliamentary >and
broad political experience is showing. The irony is that the new Liberal
Prime Minister is actually defending the period and actions of the old
Labor prime minister, Kevin Rudd, and Shorten is floating Obama-style
solutions that included an apology…
The damaging irony that a call from the Labor leader for Abbott to
consider an apology for the Rudd government’s actions was compounded by
the imputation in a later question that perhaps Indonesia would
retaliate by withdrawing its ban on visa-free arrivals by asylum-seekers
from Iran.

One of the more bizarre ideas came from
former foreign minister Bob Carr. He suggested Julie Bishop should fly
to Jakarta and apologise to the Indonesians. I hope she doesn’t. That’s
an absurd suggestion. It would undermine once and for all the age-old
policy of neither confirm nor deny. And if The Guardian publishes
another allegation, does she apologise again? Or if the allegation is
serious, but false, how does she start explaining why she won’t
apologise? You see the point.
The Carr formula is a formula that could unravel our intelligence
capabilities. As Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten should dissociate
himself from this nonsense. Instead, he seemed yesterday to endorse it.
What is more, neither Bishop nor Tony Abbott was in government at the
time of the alleged phone interception. The prime minister was then
Kevin Rudd and the foreign and defence ministers were Stephen Smith and
John Faulkner, respectively. So if there was any apologising to do, they
should do it

Why did the Guardian Australia wait until now - the election of the Abbott Government - to reveal Australia spied on Indonesia?
Miranda Devine smells a rat:

The timing of its joint story with the ABC on Monday could not be more
damaging. It came at a crucial point in Australian-Indonesian relations,
when the new Abbott government had achieved fresh co-operation on
people smuggling, and was beginning to “stop the boats”.

And yet the left-leaning British newspaper has had the information about
Australia’s surveillance activity at least since June. That was when
former CIA computer specialist Edward Snowden gave all the top-secret
documents he stole from the US National Security Agency to selected
journalists before fleeing to Moscow, the New York Times said.

Asked about the curious timing of the story, Guardian Australia editor
Katharine Viner said yesterday that she only “got the material in the
last few days”. The newspaper’s “US team” had been “carefully going
through thousands of Snowden documents. (It’s a very) lengthy process."…

ABC chief Mark Scott yesterday told the parliamentary communications
legislation committee that The Guardian brought the story to him last
week. He knew “the release of some of this material may cause
difficulties in the Australia-Indonesia relationship in the short term"…

The predictable consequence of publication was that Indonesia recalled
its ambassador and stated it would review all “co-operation” with
Australia. In case there was any doubt about the implications for border
security, the ABC helpfully asked Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty
Natalegawa. “Of course,” he said, silkily. “People smuggling information
in general.”

This is the end game for the bleeding heart Left and its media enablers:
to prevent the Abbott government from fulfilling its election promise
to “stop the boats”.

Isn’t there something off about the Guardian going through stolen information involving national security, deciding what to release at what time to cause maximum damage?

Mr Scott said the relevant test was whether releasing the material
was in the public interest. He drew a distinction between the national
interest and the public interest.
He said the disclosures raised questions about the nature and extent of
intelligence gathering in the digital age, how information was shared
and the security of that information.
“Yes, I appreciate that the release of some of this material might be
embarrassing and ... might cause some difficulties with the
Australian-Indonesian relationship in the short term,” he said.

The ABC has been attempting to block release of pay
information relating to its top-rating presenters for the past three
years, fighting a Freedom of Information request lodged in 2010 by the
Herald and Weekly Times, which is owned by News Corp Australia,
publisher of The Australian… The ABC has argued against releasing the
salary information on the grounds that it is contrary to public interest
and is connected to confidential programming material.

Hypocrites. Utter hypocrites.
The ABC seriously thinks what it pays its stars is a bigger secret than what our spies do to protect Australians.
For the record, what you are paying to high-profile Leftists:

THE ABC is paying eight broadcasters more than $250,000 a year, with
Q&A and Lateline host Tony Jones leading the pack on an annual
salary of more than $350,000. The ABC received $1.03 billion of
taxpayer funds last financial year, of which $465 million was spent on
wages, superannuation and other entitlements…
7.30 Report host Kerry O’Brien ... earned $365,246 in 2009-10…
The 7.30 presenter Leigh Sales - credited for reinvigorating the
flagship current affairs program following O’Brien’s departure - is
ranked eight journalists behind Jones, as the ABC’s 18th-highest earner
on $280,400 a year…
ABCTV Breakfast hosts Virginia Trioli earns $235,664 - about $84,000 more than co-host Michael Rowland on $151,006.
NSW weeknight news anchor Juanita Phillips is the broadcaster’s second
highest earning presenter on $316,454. Long-serving ABC journalist and
presenter of Stateline in NSW, Quentin Dempster, is listed with an
annual total salary of $291,505…
The corporation’s top-earning radio presenters are Sydney Drive’s
Richard Glover and Melbourne Mornings’ Jon Faine, earning $290,000 and
$285,249 respectively.
Former political editor Christopher Uhlmann is reported as earning
$255,400 last year and Radio National’s Breakfast host Fran Kelly is on
$255,000. ABC’s online political editor Annabel Crabb is on $217,426.

The New Daily seems to be carrying that confusion to extremes. Either
it’s an independent news website, or it’s a marketing exercise on behalf
of its owners. It simply cannot be both.
And if Guthrie, Beecher and the super funds are in a bit of a muddle, so, it seems to me, is the ABC…
But, as News and Fairfax attempt to erect paywalls around their
websites, the fact that the ABC’s taxpayer-funded news-gathering is
offered free on its own websites is cause for tension enough.
Now, the national broadcaster is garnering more income by selling that
product to commercial websites - be they Yahoo!7 or The New Daily -
which then offer it free to their readers as a point of difference
between them and their News and Fairfax rivals. If I were the rivals, I
would find that a bit galling.

I don’t think we pay $1.1 billion a year to the ABC to produce copy for a
marketing tool for super funds, to destroy the private media or to run a
highly partisan political news service. The ABC is desperately in need
of reform. A giant state-run media conglomerate is growing under our
very eyes, stifling alternative voices. This is unhealthy in a
democracy.
Here is a perfect example of the ABC killing off private competition.
In May, we got a new player in the private media:

Peter Fray, the former publisher and editor-in-chief of The Sydney
Morning Herald, has today launched his new political fact checking
website PolitiFact Australia and says he is close to announcing a media
partner for the site.
Politifact Australia is based on the format of its US counterpart,
created by the Tampa Bay Times, and seeks to test political statements
categorising them along a ‘truthometer’, with different ratings from
true to half true to “pants on fire” for completely untrue statements.

Australian fact-checking website Politifact has seen a series of
major departures and is operating on a skeleton staff as it seeks an
injection of funds to ensure the website’s survival…
As interim election partnerships with Fairfax Media and the Seven
Network came to an end, Politifact ... has been reduced from around 7
full time editorial staff to just three part-time reporters…
“We don’t have the budget the ABC does and tax payers funding...”

How desperate is The Age for Tony Abbott to fail? Count the
anti-Abbott pieces today. And I’m being generous. I haven’t circled the
main story on the Indonesia-Australia standoff, which has a strong bias
against Abbott.
Never again let The Age lecture anyone about the bias of the Murdoch press. The Age is just out of control. Mad with hatred.

Five families in the Northern Territory are connected to the fibre national broadband network, with Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull gleefully revealing the latest figures from the company he now oversees…
The Communications Minister told Parliament on Tuesday that only 322
families in the Northern Territory were capable of getting a broadband
service on the fibre network and of those households, only five have
connected…
In a speech that drew laughter and jeering, Mr Turnbull taunted Labor
about its “switching on” ceremonies in which ministers would travel to
the Northern Territory to haul fibre to dramatise the progress of the
NBN… Former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy “went to the Northern
Territory more often than there are active connections on the broadband
network,” he said.

Under NBN Co’s agreement with Telstra, the copper network has to be
decommissioned 18 months after an area has optic fibre ready for
service.
It means phone and internet services are already being cut in those
areas, even though some customers are still waiting for connection to
the NBN.
The Lewincamp family lives in an area where the network is available,
but one month ago its internet and phone connection on the old copper
network was cut by the service provider....
“We’ve been told the next available appointment is in January when they
will come and see whether they can connect us or not...”

(Thanks to reader Steve.)
UPDATE
Reader Andrew of Randwick:

Seems like the whole rationale of the NBN going all the way to the home
(rather than a street corner node) is dead before the NBN even gets
started.
ABC The Business interviews the man whose company invented ADSL technology and he explains:

1) Fibre-to-the-home is up to 10 times more expensive than fibre-to-the-node.
2) VDSL is now ready for adoption. Vectored DSL is a new technology that
allows the last bit of copper wire to carry 100 MBS (at 1000 metres) or
over 1,0000 MBS if the copper length is 100-300 metres.

2) VDSL is now ready for adoption. Vectored DSL is a new
technology that allows the last bit of copper wire to carry 100 MBS (at
1000 metres) or over 1,0000 MBS if the copper length is 100-300 metres.

The good sir in the clip (around the 3min mark) is talking about
megabits [Mb] or [Mbits], where you have megabytes [MB], whilst an easy
mistake, it does change the quoted speed by a factor of 12.
For example, a connection running at 100Mbits will only yield a connection of 12.5MB.
He also referred to Gigabit(s), not Gigabyte. 1 Gigabit connection is
128MB or 1024Mbit connection.. Roughly 1/10 of you have have there.. And
then a Gigabyte is only 1000MB (or close too) where you have 10,000..
Which would be 10Gigabytes. What you want to change it to would be this;

2) VDSL is now ready for adoption.
Vectored DSL is a new technology that allows the last bit of copper wire
to carry 100 MBits (at 1000 metres) or over 1 Gbit (or 1024Mbit) if the
copper length is 100-300 metres.

The developed world breaks into two main blocs - the
European Union and the loose Umbrella group of non-European developed
economies.
The negotiating trajectory of the Brussels-led delegation has been to
argue for a binding international agreement while progressively putting
more ambitious proposals to cut emissions on the table in the hope that
both rich and poor countries will follow their leadership…
Broadly, the Umbrella group has argued for a voluntary approach to cut
emissions using policies that suit each country’s national interests,
while also insisting that developing countries that are the source of
rising emissions also carry their share of the carbon cutting load.
Yet despite being chair of the Umbrella group, under the Rudd and
Gillard governments Australia drifted toward the European position...

But no longer. Australia has broken free, and others are following:

But it appears that even Europe’s position is fracturing. Major coal
producing and consuming countries are increasingly voicing their concern
about the path Brussels is leading them down.
Recently the Polish environment minister was reported saying “this
concept of leading by example is not delivering” and follows earlier
Polish vetoes against Europe increasing its emissions cuts.
Not that Poland is alone. On Friday last week, the Japanese government
formally confirmed its previously hinted decision to reduce its 2020
emissions reduction target from 25 per cent to only 3.8 per cent.

At the Commonwealth, too, Australia has for the first time negotiators can recall caused the communique to record a split:

The Prime Minister refused to back language in the communique supporting
the establishment of an international Green Fund… Canada backed the
Australian position.
As a result, for the first time in its history the CHOGM leaders’
communique included a statement that some member nations did not support
a specific provision of the communique…

Opposition leader Bill
Shorten passed an important test today. In Parliament before Question
Time he backed a statement by Tony Abbott seeking to placate Indonesia
by expressing regret for the embarrassment caused to the Indonesian
President by reports of our alleged spying and pledging to rebuild
trust.
Shorten has not sought to politicise this very critical issue and jeopardise our relationship - unlike the Greens.
Statesmanlike.
Mind you, Abbott had earlier put Labor on notice by saying he would
never apologise for actions taken by a previous government to safeguard
our security, just as he expected a future government not to apologise
for his own.
But it seems Abbott and Shorten had discussions beforehand to defuse this issue in the national interest. This is heartening.
UPDATE
Damn. Praised too much. I missed the one sentence in Shorten’s reply where he went off the reservation:

I believe, for instance, that the example of the
United States in the way that it handled a similar issue with Germany
provides the opportunity for us to consider the same course of action.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.
This is what Obama’s spokesman foolishly said after it was revealed the US had eavesdropped on the calls of Angela Merkel:

The President assured the Chancellor that the United
States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of
Chancellor Merkel.

Two points that Shorten foolishly overlooks. Indonesia is not Germany.
Does Shorten seriously suggest that we would never have an interest in
monitoring the calls of some future president of Indonesia, a country
with nationalist and religious extremists?
Second, if we give this assurance to Indonesia, what do we say to the
leader of Malaysia? Thailand? China? Vietnam? Nauru? Burma?
Shorten has miscalculated here. I take back a big dollop of my praise.
See what happens when I try to be nice?
UPDATE
Labor seems to realise it’s overplayed its hand. Immigration spokesman
Richard Marles on Sky News later refuses to say if Labor then wants
Abbott to apologise to Yudhoyono as Obama apologised to Merkel. So what
the hell is Labor saying?
UPDATE
It is astonishing to me that the Greens, however, are fanning Indonesian
resentments by talking up Indonesia’s hurt, talking up our offence and
demanding we end such spying in future. I thought the Left considered
Indonesia a hostile neighbor, thanks to the 1960s massacres, the East
Timor occupation, the role of the military in politics, the Aceh
rebellion and the West Papua succession movement.
But if there’s a chance for some Abbott bashing and attacks on the US national security bureaucracy ...
UPDATE
I think Abbott’s statement is the very best possible under the circumstances:

The crisis in relations
with Indonesia has been caused by Leftist news outlets reporting on
spying carried out under a Labor Government.
But Tony Abbott must be made to look bad in some way. The Leftist ABC last night got a Leftist to suggest one:

“Fatuous”? A word to McKinley and some fellow travellers in the media
trying now to skewer Abbott for that response. Indonesia’s detikNews claims that Abbott’s line was actually suggested by the Indonesian Vice-President -
before the latest revelations of tapping the President’s phone - as a
way to smooth over the issue. (Translation from Ganesh Sahathevan):

Secara resmi, Indonesia meminta agar ada perbaikan
dalam proses pengumpulan informasi sehingga tidak merugikan kedua negara
dan merusak hubungan yang sudah terjalin baik selama ini. Abbott
merespons baik terhadap permintaan tersebut.
“Ide untuk ke depan ada suatu sistem di mana informasi yang dikumpulkan
tidak dipakai untuk hal-hal merugikan kedua belah pihak. Nampaknya
beliau tidak menolak. Artinya beliau sendiri pandangannya ke arah situ,”
jelasnya
Officially , Indonesia has asked that intelligence obtained not be used
in a manner that might be detrimental to both countries. Abbott
responded positively to that suggestion.
“ The idea going forward is for a system where information collected
will not be used in any way that will harm either country. Abbott did
not object. I take that to mean that his thinking is along the same
lines” , he (Boediono) explained.

Abbott hatred is distorting reporting and adding to our tensions with Indonesia. Fairfax and the ABC are out of control.

Julian Burnside, a
celebrity lawyer, has a terrible struggle with sticking to facts. And as
a celebrity “human rights” activist he has an even greater struggle
with actually staying civilised himself.
In short, Julian Burnside is a hypocrite whose word - in my opinion - cannot be taken at face value.
Last week he tweeted this false claim:

In fact, the truth was exactly the opposite. As I have since pointed out, I’ve actually debated Burnside twice
- once in front of a very hostile audience of his choosing. I’d also
repeatedly asked Burnside to come on my television show. He refused,
even after I made several promises to ensure he would be allowed to
state his case without badgering.
Burnside’s response to being shown to have made false claims? To retweet
the most childish abuse, unbefitting a senior lawyer with pretensions
to be an arts patron and spokesman for civilised values:

Pathetic really.
Now this:

Plus this email to my blog:

Once again, Burnside has not merely stated something false. The truth is almost the opposite.
Listen to my 2GB show last night,
on which I twice fielded calls from listeners wishing to discuss
Burnside. I did not accuse him of lacking courage, but of saying things
that were not true. Burnside’s latest suggestion is as false as his
earlier ones. In fact, he’s actually projecting, since it was Burnside
himself who mentioned courage by retweeting more childish abuse about
my own:

(By the way, I suggest that any government foolish enough to contemplate
appointing Burnside to any judicial role consider the nature of a man
who publishes this kind of abuse.)
Julian, I’ve debated you in the most hostile venue you could have
devised - at an asylum seeker fundraiser you’d organised, in front a
crowd which hissed me as I was introduced, in a discussion you MC’d,
and on a stage dominated by largely Leftist speakers you’d chosen. If
you keep refusing to debate me on radio or television, man to man, with
no one there to heckle, hiss, boo, groan or otherwise interfere with the
discussion, you really do lack courage, after all.
And, please, for you own reputation, get out of the gutter, will you? It makes me feel dirty even offering you a debate.
UPDATE
To hear one of my debates with Burnside, go here. (Number 183.)
(Thanks to reader Peter.)

Fairfax’s loathing for
Tony Abbott has led to a string of reports in which he is blamed for the
failings of others. The latest example is a story which starts:

“Stop the waste,” Tony Abbott cried endlessly during the federal
election, and then made a great show of moving into a little room in
Canberra’s Australian Police College for $110 a night rather than spend
fat money renting a Canberra mansion while The Lodge underwent
renovations.
Uh, oh.
Turns out a mansion had already been rented on the taxpayers’ docket, and will continue to be rented for a year. For $156,000.
It sits, vacant now, in one of Canberra’s most desirable suburbs,
Forrest, unloved by a prime minister while Mr Abbott consorts with
police cadets.

Abbott the hypocrite. Abbott the wastrel. Abbott - wink, wink - “consorting” with police cadets.
Only later do we read the paragraphs that make the first few seem the cheapest of cheap shots:

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which signed the lease, is
– unsurprisingly – having trouble backing out of the deal. Which, of
course, means that the owner is – you’d imagine – smiling all the way to
the bank.
The Prime Minister’s Department signed up during the election campaign.
Officials asked then prime minister Kevin Rudd if he’d like to inspect
the property, just in case he won the election, but he was too busy. The
same offer was made to Mr Abbott, but he was too busy, too…
The prime minister’s usual Canberra room and board, The Lodge, is
undergoing big-time renovations and will be uninhabitable for more than
eight months.

Fairfax is out of control.
UPDATE
Reader Andrew is surprised Fairfax is so pro-Labor, given what’s happened to its share price over six years of Labor rule.
UPDATE
Remember this Fairfax Abbott-hate, which fooled even me?
MP John Alexander tells Parliament how Fairfax stitched him up:

In July last year I was invited to travel to Perth to deliver the
keynote speech at a Curtin University forum relating to sporting-club
development. During my short stay in Perth I had the opportunity to
visit the club at Royal Kings Park and also to meet with the CEO of
Perth Airport to discuss our shared issue of aircraft noise, another
electorate matter.
While on the west coast I accepted an invitation from my committee
colleague, the member for Forrest, to visit her region to meet with
business leaders to discuss my work as chair of the coalition’s
Sustainable Cities Taskforce. This work was born from the No. 1 issue
facing Bennelong residents—a lack of urban planning, leading to our
streets becoming the funnel for one of the fastest-growing regions in
the country....
Yet it was an unrelated feature of the Forrest electorate that garnered a
journalist’s interest in this trip more than a year later: the Margaret
River community’s successful wine-production industry.
In order to ensure the public perception matched the integrity with
which I approached the trip, I scheduled meetings over three days and
was keen to ensure that all activities during that period related only
to work matters. Whilst in the region, I also took three days of
personal time, solely at my own expense. As a result of the success of
my earlier meetings, more work related meetings took place on my
personal days. I made no claim for that.
Early last month I was contacted by a Fairfax journalist wishing to have
details about this trip. The questions were answered with a clear
conscience, but preferring to avoid a story the information was given
off the record, as background only.
The journalist in question affirmed his understanding of the status of
this information, by reply email. Shortly after sending this email, the
journalist transmitted a barrage of tweets that repeatedly quoted from
the off-the-record information I had provided…
Interestingly, the final tweets from the Fairfax journalist read: ‘Mr
Alexander’s trips fit within entitlements.’ So no story. Ten days later
he printed a story that demeaned the good work that was being done into a
farcical claim—that I had visited Margaret River to study traffic
congestion. This absolute lack of accuracy in reporting directly
undermines the important relationship between constituents and their
elected representatives. These actions are performed in an overt attempt
to injure us, to damage our reputations.

Fairfax and the ABC have declared war on the Abbott Government, and seem prepared to stop at nothing to drag it down.
(Thanks to reader Nick.)

Carr isn’t just acting like this alleged tapping of the phones of
Indonesian politicians in August 2009 had nothing to do with Labor. He
actually wants Abbott to implicitly confirm the spying allegation and
rule out any such spying in future - even if it could be useful to our
national interest. What next? Must Abbott rule out spying on every other
head of state as well, including China’s and those of potentially
hostile nations?
Carr is a dilettante.
Note also how Laurie Oakes last night on Channel 9 presented Carr as a commentator rather than, as I said last night, a man potentially complicit.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Legal, Political and Security
Affairs Djoko Suyanto at least shows the context and sense that so many
Abbott haters commenting on this have lacked. In a television interview
yesterday he pointed out the alleged spying occurred under Kevin Rudd’s
government, and Abbott deserved time to respond.
UPDATE
Deep in a long interview on ABC Radio National, Fran Kelly finally
gets around to asking Carr whether Labor should be apologising since
this occurred on its watch. Carr brushes it off, saying he shouldn’t
comment on intelligence gathering:

My focus has been on the way forward. How we get out of this.

Kelly promptly moves on. Much of the interview was taken with attacking Abbott’s “tone” in responding.
Then Kelly talks to Channel 10’s Paul Bongiorno who likewise prefers to
to criticise Abbott, saying he should choose “a better form of words”.
Next Kelly interviews the Greens’ Scott Ludlum, who also attacks Tony Abbott, mocking him for adopting a “foetal position”.
UPDATE
Miranda Devine raises a very good point. Why didn’t the ABC and Guardian
Australia report this spying story when Julia Gillard was Prime
Minister? When Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister?
Why now?:

UPDATE
At least the focus shifts to those actually in charge at the time:

ABC managing director Mark Scott ... dismissed suggestions the ABC or
Guardian Australia “sat” on the documents for months… Mr Scott said the
ABC received the documents “a matter of days before broadcast"…
He understood the number of documents leaked to The Guardian by Mr Snowden were massive and took a long time to examine.
Mr Scott said he believed Guardian Australia “only had access to this material 24 hours before the ABC was alerted to it"…
Mr Scott said the relevant test was whether releasing the material was
in the public interest… He said the disclosures raised questions about
the nature and extent of intelligence gathering in the digital age, how
information was shared and the security of that information.
“Yes, I appreciate that the release of some of this material might be
embarrassing and ... might cause some difficulties with the
Australian-Indonesian relationship in the short term,” he said.
Mr Scott said previous reporting about AWB’s kickbacks to Saddam
Hussein’s Iraq regime also caused embarrassment but was in the public
interest and “probably in the national interest in the long term”.
He said several slides were redacted (kept hidden) as a result of advice sought from unnamed Australian authorities.

It’s a bit rich likening a whistleblower’s revelations of corruption to a
traitor’s leaking of information about national security secrets.
(Thanks to reader Andy.)

Some context to this
outrage - fanned by the Greens and the Leftist media - that we are
spying on Indonesian leaders and should stop.
First, there are reasons we spy on Indonesia: Philip Dorling, between
the ritual sneers at Tony Abbott demanded of Fairfax writers, reminds us why we do:

Canberra just doesn’t trust Jakarta…
We find Indonesia’s political system opaque, riddled with corruption and
prone to nationalist outbursts. We don’t regard Indonesia as true
friends (certainly not in the way, for example, we view New Zealand or
our other “Five Eyes” partners) and we don’t rule out the possibility
that someday, perhaps in the distant future, they may be a threat…
In the 1970s the Defence Signals radio facility at Shoal Bay outside
Darwin monitored Indonesian military communications and provided ample
warning of Indonesia’s intentions to invade East Timor…
The burning of East Timor’s capital Dili by the Indonesian military and
militias in September 1999 came as no surprise to Australian
intelligence.

Reader Token points out what none of the reporting so far has:

Just curious why none of the reporting around the spying in Aug 2009
mentioned the Jakarta bombing in mid July 2009 where Australians were
hurt?
Can you help people understand why it was in the national interest for the PM of Australia to approve this spying?

Second, Indonesia spies on Australia as well. From 2004:

In an extraordinary admission Indonesia says it bugged Australia’s embassy in Jakarta during the East Timor crisis and has tried to recruit Australians as spies.
Retiring Indonesian intelligence chief General Abdullah Mahmud
Hendropriyono has claimed his agency tapped Australian civil and
military communications and politicians’ phone calls…
Hendropriyono, who headed the Badan Intelijen Negara under president
Megawati Soekarnoputri’s government, said it was well known that
governments tapped each other’s communications and Indonesia had much
evidence its embassies abroad were bugged…
“We can say this is a public secret. You know, secret but the whole public knows. This is quite common intelligence activity.”

Disturbing new footage has emerged showing what are believed to be Australian cattle being mistreated in Indonesian abattoirs.
The footage aired on ABC1’s Lateline was shot in January in two abattoirs in Jakarta…
The Greens spokeswoman on animal welfare, Lee Rhiannon, says ... if
the animals are confirmed to be Australian, the live export industry
should be shut down....
“We do need the monitoring and auditing in this area,” she said.

(Thanks to reader Yoda. Items bumped from earlier post.)
UPDATE
More context, from someone who was deputy prime minister at the time of the alleged bugging:

But did you listen to the second half of Fran Kelly’s interview this morning with Bob Carr? It was about Sri Lanka.
Carr was first class. He:

- noted the 35 years of civil war
- wondered why people don’t dwell on the Tamil Tigers’ human rights
abuses, including inventing suicide bombing and using women and children
- pointed out that if the Tigers had managed to carve out a ‘homeland’
in the north, it would have been pretty much like the Pol Pot regime
- noted that the UK and Canadian PMs actions were motivated largely by their large domestic Tamil constituencies
- rejected the notion that Australian foreign policy should be set by members of Diasporas that find their way here.

True. Credit where it is due. Carr did spike the latest media and Greens
attack on Abbott’s boat people policy, with Fairfax and the ABC
flaying Abbott for giving two patrol boats to Sri Lanka to help stop
people smugglers bringing over what we’re meant to believe of victims of
an appalling tyranny.
On the other hand there is this from Josh Frydenberg, a parliamentary secretary in the Abbott Government:

POOR old Carl Ungerer (”Abbott must abandon his Anglosphere nonsense”, 7/11).
In a fit of self-pity following Labor’s election defeat and his old boss
Bob Carr’s humiliating dash to the parliamentary exit, Ungerer has
launched a gratuitous and baseless attack on Tony Abbott and his
outstanding senior adviser, Andrew Shearer.
While Abbott as PM has started strongly prosecuting his foreign and
trade policy agenda, Carr as foreign minister was a complete dud.
On his watch, there were no headline speeches, no meaningful narrative for engaging the region and plenty of stuff-ups.
Who could forget Carr’s threat of sanctions against Papua New Guinea,
the live animal export fiasco that cost hundreds of jobs and the
thousands of unauthorised boat arrivals that made their way to our
shores?
Not too interested in securing good policy outcomes, Carr was simply the
nation’s leading taxpayer funded tourist scouring the world for stories
to recount in his travel diary.

Dozens of anti-pipeline and oilsands activists
gathered Saturday in downtown Calgary as part of a nation-wide protest
focusing on climate change…
Originally about 300 people were slated to participate in the Calgary protest, but due to a snow storm only about 50 showed up.

Performing an aesthetics of atmospheres
Fifteen theses on transcendental intersubjective audience,
Do theories and events deliver: A tripartite meditation on social dramaturgy
Abysmal Laughter
How to Say (Roughlyi??very Roughly): What Sort of a Thing a Triple Alice 3 is, Having Attended One

And now some may have succeeded in smashing Abbott’s warm relationship
with Indonesia - a partnership critical in cracking down on people
smugglers - by revealing Australia spied on Indonesian politicians:

Ask Australia to provide an official and public explanation and make a commitment not to repeat their actions;
Summon to Jakarta the Indonesian ambassador to Canberra, Primo Alui Joelianto, for a “consultation”;
Review the co-operation on the exchange of information between the
Indonesian and Australian governments, including the assignments of
Australian officers in the Australian embassy in Jakarta; and
Review all co-operation on the exchange of information and other co-operation with Australia.

Djoko is the minister co-ordinating all the agencies fighting people
smugglers. If he’s threatening to end co-operation, it is very serious.
And Abbott’s personal rapport with the president counts for little:

The spying revelations have ‘‘devastated’’ the President, according to
his special adviser for political affairs, Daniel Sparringa.

‘‘Until today, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has always paid
special attention toward the deepening of the two countries relations.
Therefore the news has devastated us.”

Job done.
Note a few things.
The media, not Abbott, have now damaged our relationship with Indonesia
by revealing news against the national interest about activities that
were in the national interest.
The media is failing to underscore that this alleged spying occurred in
Labor’s watch, in 2009, when Kevin Rudd was prime minister. Indeed,
Laurie Oakes on Channel 9 tonight quoted Bob Carr, Julia Gillard’s
Foreign Minister, calling on Abbott to apologise to Indonesia with
neither man pointing out that if any politician should apologise it is
Rudd. Most reports seem keen to make Abbott the fall guy.
The reaction of the Indonesian English-speaking elite will be
conditioned in part by the offence that the Australian “elite” -
especially our “elite” media suggest they should take. If they catch ABC or Age
reports that even we are as appalled as the Greens suggest we should
be, they will feel even more strongly we have done them an evil.
Much of the media seems to be deliberately working against the national
interest, and are blaming the damage on the man least responsible for
it. Abbott hatred is hurting this country.

===Aprille LoveShout out to the amazing @cueroshoes in rozelle for gifting me these amazing heels. Whether im wearing them on the red carpet or running around meeting with Parliament, they are the perfect pair of heels for any outfit or occassion! #lovethem#love#cuero
===G'day,

Do you remember the very funny hit film from the 80's, "SPIES LIKE US"? Well if you do, then you can understand how I see this "international incident" as being just as funny and just as hyped up as the characters portrayed in that movie.To think that there is any "surprise & shock" over the revelations that we would dare listen in on the communications of heads of government and defence related authorities in our region, AND let's not forget in this case, a nation that teachers its children that they have a birth right to the great southern land, a nation that spend billions of dollars of it's "foreign aid" on building it's military and a nation that has publicly admitted that strive to have an Defence Force greater & more powerful than ours, is a JOKE!

Diplomatically both sides do a great job of keeping the peace, and who would want anything to be different? BUT it must be understood that a huge part of the maintenance of regional peace is the agreed understanding of the fact that all major powers in this region DO and HAVE FOR A LONG TIME, monitored each other. Its keeps people honest.

The hypocrisy here is not that the Indonesians are in shock of these spying revelation, because what they are doing is purely playing a domestic card that shows strength and a little defiance due to the local elections in that country,...NO, the hypocrisy here is that the events reported took place whilst the ALP/GREENS coalition were in Government and it seems to me that the leader of the Greens, Christine Milne is purely playing for political points from the usual suspects & loss supporters, because she would have known this was going on & that she said nothing then!!! I have yet to hear her ever say how much she respects & admires the privacy of the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono GCB in the past, and in my opinion, I doubt she likes the SBY regime much at all.

GodspeedZeg

Freelance Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist0414293765

www.facebook.com/zegtoons
===Scum still on bathroom tiles .. thank you GIO
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4 her
===Bill Glasson - LNP Candidate for GriffithI am honoured to stand as your LNP candidate for Griffith. I have a passion for our community where I have lived for over 40 years and if given the privilege, I will be a strong local voice in government. I'll be committed to making positive changes for the people of Griffith, for our community and for Australia - Bill
==='Tony Abbott, worryingly, is risking the relationship with Indonesia for the red-neck vote at home,' Adam Bandt

"The ECAJ accepts the overwhelming view of history scholars that the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians in these communities was done with genocidal intent".

"One of the venues to which Professor McCarthy has been invited to put forward his views, is a room in Parliament House Canberra, thereby lending his theories the misleading appearance of official approval. In our view, no part of Parliament House should be misused in this way".

The full release can be read below.I agree with the executive council on each point. Free speech means that idiot is allowed to say what he allegedly thinks. It also means I am free to show how stupid such 'thoughts' are. To suggest the killing of a million people over years was not something a government is responsible for is no different to voting for a person who has a particular skin colour. It is bigoted and inexcusable. It is irresponsible and natural justice suggests that it be addressed and redressed. I note it i not technically feasible to raise the dead or take back torture, so monetary compensation is part of what must happen. Also, those who have held up the process of natural justice should face jail. - ed
===

Rupert Murdoch knew as much about his employees’ phone hacking as did Kevin Rudd about ASIO’s. Phone tapping is disclosed only on a need-to-know basis and the boss has no need to know. In fact it’s important that he doesn’t know.

In 1973 under the hapless Whitlam ministry, Attorney General, Lionel Murphy mistrusted ASIO to the extent that he raided the joint, confiscating mountains of sensitive documents.

It was considered unprecedented that a government’s own spy agency was not to be trusted.

Murphy, along with half the Whitlam Cabinet, was at the time sharing the services of Jim (Commo) Cairns’ secretary, Junie Morosi, and confidentiality was not at a premium.

But ASIO was Murphy’s blind spot and, suspecting it was undermining him, he forced his way into their headquarters.They weren’t of course, but such was the paranoia of a rapidly disintegrating Whitlam administration.

Murphy cheated jail on other matters by dying first.

Neither Kevin Rudd nor Julia Gillard would have been privy to ASIO phone tapping in 2009, and to suggest Tony Abbott is responsible is a notion entertained only by Labor nutters, the ABC and Fairfax.

That’s what ASIO’s is supposed to be doing... tapping phones! It is a bloody spy agency, what else would it do? And where else should it be tapping phones other than in the corrupt nest of Islamic terrorists to our north?

But ASIO and six other of our ridiculously fragmented spy agencies are still a law unto themselves.

The Chinese know more about our spy agencies’ activities than Abbott does. They easily acquired the blue prints of our newly constructed intelligence monolith in Canberra, necessitating the interior be ripped out and replaced.

Des Ball, of the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said, "Once you get those building plans you can start constructing your own wiring diagrams, where the linkages are through telephone connections, via wi-fi connections."

Bob Carr said at the time, "It's got absolutely no implications for our strategic partnership (with China)." Really? Well said, Bob.

Indonesia’s confected outrage is aimed at its electorate, not us. Recalling its ambassador was a given, but in a few weeks he will be quietly reinstated.

Indonesia, feigning shock and horror, is as much embroiled in the spying game as everyone else is. It’s always been that way, except modern technology has made it much easier.

Last night’s 4 corners program confirmed what we’ve been saying all along: The Indonesians are corrupt to the core, cannot be trusted and are purposefully breaching our security on a daily basis.

Abbott has ample ammunition to diplomatically negate mere phone tapping and at least he has the intelligence to be making the right noises.

Sarah Hanson-Young of the Greens said today that Abbott should apologise to the Indonesians. WTF! Who the hell elects these Green gophers?

And thank God Julia, Nicola and Kevin are no longer required to navigate the complexities of international, quid pro-quo espionage.

It seems the only person enjoying these well-timed disclosures of international espionage is that little imp, Vladimir Putin.

Anyway, there will be no confrontation over spying but Indonesian assisted people trafficking to our shores is a different matter.

Especially when ex-Army General SBY has vowed to have a greater military capacity than Australia.

Anyone looking for a room in Sydney CBD? 1 bedroom+own bathroom available in King Street Wharf (part of 2bed apartment). Apartment is fully furnished, west facing overlooking darling harbor. Building has onsite gym, heated pool, sauna. $450 per week all bills and internet included

===This Canadian mum was fined $10 for sending a homemade lunch to school with her children. Here's why: http://bit.ly/1cFBjNO
===Cannot. Bear. To see this. *Sobs*

When you are depressed, waiting until you FEEL like doing what's right is a huge mistake. You can't trust your feelings when depressed.

=We can give by #reason (What can I afford?) OR we can give by #revelation (God,what do u want to give through me?) Anyone can give the first way. The 2nd way activates faith, which pleases God.WATCH HERE: http://bit.ly/ZvjGI9
===

Father in heaven,I thank You for delivering me and setting me free. I will declare Your goodness. I will declare Your promises. I will declare Your favor so that I can live the good life You have prepared for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

=

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary (Psalm 107:2, AMP)

When you say what the Lord has done for you, when you declare that you are redeemed, you are opening the door for God to move on your behalf. The scripture tells us that He watches over His Word to perform it. When you declare His Word, when you speak His promises, He is faithful to fulfill them and lead you into victory all the days of your life.God bless you.

=

Remember that the devil is a liar. So, don’t ever let the lies from the enemy or pressure from the world keep you from taking hold of everything the Lord has for you. Open your heart by faith and receive whatever you need today. Step out in boldness and strength because the Lord is with you.PRAY ALONG.Heavenly Father,I thank You for loving me today. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for being closer to me than the air I breathe. I receive Your promises today in faith and confidence. I cast all of my cares on You and set my heart on You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

=

Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9, NKJV)

No matter what today has in store, as a believer, you can approach the day with boldness and confidence. Why? Because the Lord is with you, and in Him is everything you need in this life. That means that if you need provision for something today, provision is with you. If you need wisdom today, wisdom is with you. If you need strength, joy or peace today, it’s with you. You can be confident today knowing that all of your needs are supplied spiritually, physically and emotionally because the Lord is with you. And best of all, He’s promised never to leave you nor forsake you.God bless you.

=

Father in heaven,I thank You for all of Your blessings in my life. I declare today that You are good and thank You for Your mercy. I set my heart and mind on You and ask that You have Your way in me. Help me to love You perfectly and keep me close to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Not disagreeing with the article. I was entranced by a recent documentary which suggested it was an accident by a secret service agent which completed the assassination. LHO having shot kennedy through the throat with a full metal jacket .. an agent for the Secret Service looked to return fire, picked up a loaded rifle ready to fire, undid the safety, and discharged a dum-dum bullet which blew out JFK's brain. After the accident, the brain was hidden .. so LHO did it on his own, but had accidental help. If that got out, the Dem position of victimhood would be destroyed. - ed

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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good, than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and our Churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is foolish to sow in so barren a field. Questions upon points wherein Scripture is silent; upon mysteries which belong to God alone; upon prophecies of doubtful interpretation; and upon mere modes of observing human ceremonials, are all foolish, and wise men avoid them. Our business is neither to ask nor answer foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we observe the apostle's precept (Titus 3:8) to be careful to maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much occupied with profitable business to take much interest in unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings.

There are, however, some questions which are the reverse of foolish, which we must not avoid, but fairly and honestly meet, such as these: Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? Am I growing in grace? Does my conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour? Am I looking for the coming of the Lord, and watching as a servant should do who expects his master? What more can I do for Jesus? Such enquiries as these urgently demand our attention; and if we have been at all given to cavilling, let us now turn our critical abilities to a service so much more profitable. Let us be peace-makers, and endeavour to lead others both by our precept and example, to "avoid foolish questions."

Evening

In Job's uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The longing desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see his Father's face. His first prayer is not "O that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my body!" nor even "O that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the spoiler!" but the first and uppermost cry is, "O that I knew where I might find Him, who is my God! that I might come even to his seat!" God's children run home when the storm comes on. It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul to seek shelter from all ills beneath the wings of Jehovah. "He that hath made his refuge God," might serve as the title of a true believer. A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the infliction, and, like a slave, would run from the Master who has scourged him; but not so the true heir of heaven, he kisses the hand which smote him, and seeks shelter from the rod in the bosom of the God who frowned upon him. Job's desire to commune with God was intensified by the failure of all other sources of consolation. The patriarch turned away from his sorry friends, and looked up to the celestial throne, just as a traveller turns from his empty skin bottle, and betakes himself with all speed to the well. He bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O that I knew where I might find my God!" Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we learn the emptiness of all besides. Turning away with bitter scorn from earth's hives, where we find no honey, but many sharp stings, we rejoice in him whose faithful word is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. In every trouble we should first seek to realize God's presence with us. Only let us enjoy his smile, and we can bear our daily cross with a willing heart for his dear sake.

Today's Old Testament reading: Ezekiel 11-13

God’s Sure Judgment on Jerusalem

1 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. 2 The LORD said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city.3 They say, ‘Haven’t our houses been recently rebuilt? This city is a pot, and we are the meat in it.’ 4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.”

5 Then the Spirit of the LORD came on me, and he told me to say: “This is what the LORD says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. 6 You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead....

Today's New Testament reading: James 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

Trials and Temptations

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do....

Greetings from Bible Gateway! With the holiday season kicking into gear, we hope you'll find time amidst the busy-ness to focus on God. And we hope Bible Gateway can help and encourage you in doing so!

Both devotions feature the insights of author and theologian R.C. Sproul of Ligonier Ministries, and reflect his trademark blend of readable reflection and intellectual heft.

Coram Deo is a short, readable devotional message that explores what it means to live as a believer in the presence of God.

Tabletalk Devotions is a more in-depth daily reading for people who want to dig a bit deeper each day into the teachings of Scripture. (It includes the Coram Deo meditation as well.)

Sproul and Ligonier Ministries want every believer to engage their Christian faith with their mind as well as their heart, and these devotionals reflect that vision. Both devotionals begin on Monday, November 21; so sign up today!

The NEG1979 is a revision of the venerable Louis Segond version. The Segond 21 is a major new translation (first published in 2007) that draws on years of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek textual scholarship. They're also the first French additions to our library in quite a while, so we're thrilled to be able to offer them to our French-speaking brothers and sisters.

You may remember that last year we introduced Christmas readings and devotions during the Advent season. Well, there's a lot more where that came from this year, and we'll be talking more about it in the coming weeks. So stay tuned... and have a blessed holiday season!

Sincerely,the Bible Gateway team

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The Servant, Steward of Justice

God's word through Isaiah is that he has appointed a servant, or trusted envoy, who will usher in a new order-a bringer and establisher of justice, whom we all long for and look forward to with hope. Evangelical leader Charles Colson emphasizes how we need that hope:

We cry out for the demands of justice to be satisfied, and we even sense that they will someday ... How could we possibly live with the unfairness of this world if we did not have a belief that at some point the accounts will be reckoned? The nonbeliever has to chalk this up to the spin of the wheel and futile human remedies. But the believer, who trusts in a loving God, knows all believers have the same ultimate hope.

Our longing for justice is fulfilled both now and in the "not yet" by Jesus the Messiah. Best-selling author Philip Yancey elaborates:

When Jesus lived on earth he made the blind to see and the lame to walk; he will return to rule over a kingdom that has no disease or disability. On earth he died and was resurrected; at his return, death will be no more. On earth he cast out demons; at his return, he will destroy the Evil One. On earth he came as a baby born in a manger; he will return as the blazing figure described in the book of Revelation. The kingdom he set in motion on earth was not the end, only the beginning of the end.

Indeed, the kingdom of God will grow on earth as the church creates an alternative society demonstrating what the world is not, but one day will be ... A society that welcomes people of all races and social classes, that is characterized by love and not polarization, that cares most for its weakest members, that stands for justice and righteousness in a world enamored with selfishness and decadence, as a society in which members compete for the privilege of serving one another-this is what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God.

The four Horsemen of the Apocalypse give a preview of how the world will end: in war, famine, sickness and death. But Jesus gave a personal preview of how the world will be restored, by reversing the deeds of the four Horsemen: he made peace, fed the hungry, healed the sick, and brought the dead to life. He made the message of God's kingdom powerful by living it, by bringing it to reality among the people around him. The prophets' fairy-tale predictions of a world free of pain and tears and death referred to no mythical world, but rather to this world.

Think About It

We in the church, Jesus' successors, are left with the task of displaying the signs of the kingdom of God, and the watching world will judge the merits of the kingdom by us. We live in a time of transition-a transition from death to life, from human injustice to divine justice, from the old to the new-tragically incomplete yet marked here and there, now and then, with clues of what God will someday achieve in perfection.

Act on It

Determine a way to proclaim to others that the kingdom of God is breaking into the world.

The Big Effect of Little Choices

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.Judges 16:4

Samson seemed to have all the right stuff. An angel announced his birth and instructed his parents to raise him to live as a lifelong Nazirite, a person set apart by God. As a result of his standing, he was to abstain from grape products, have no contact with dead bodies and forego haircuts (seeNumbers 6:1–8). Samson grew up with godly parents who loved him. He was given a life purpose—to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines—and an incredible strength to help him achieve the task.

But Samson’s privileged beginnings didn’t automatically endow him with moral integrity. Over the course of his life, he deliberately participated in the things he and his parents had promised not to do. He ate honey from a lion’s carcass, violating his Nazirite vow in order to delight himself with something sweet (see Judges 14:8–9). Instead of being a great warrior against the Philistines, Samson’s crusades were often spurred by personal vendettas. And he had an insatiable appetite for Philistine women. Ultimately, one of those women, Delilah, learned the secret of Samson’s strength and traded that knowledge for a large sum of money.

Maybe you remember learning in church school that Samson was strong because he had long hair. Actually, Samson’s strength wasn’t in his hair but in his relationship with God. When his head was shaved, it was merely an outward indication of what he had already lost inside.

Ultimately Samson was unable to fully realize his potential or use the gifts God had given him. This is true of many of us. Though God has uniquely gifted us for his purpose, we are unable to live up to our potential because we continually fall victim to our sinful nature.

Samson didn’t turn toward sin in one grand decision. A lifetime of little choices resulted in Samson’s demise. Similarly, it isn’t the politician’s final bribe, but rather his early career decisions to bend the rules that lead to his downfall. It isn’t the public moral failing of the religious leader, but the many unconfessed sins that preceded it, that brings him down. It’s not the addiction, but the little indulgences that fed the addiction, that kills a family.

This principle also applies to our marriages. Most Christians don’t wake up one day and decide to throw their marriage and family away with one grand affair. The separation begins with participating in a bit of seemingly innocent flirting at work or sending an innocuous email to an old friend or confiding a bit of unhappiness with one’s spouse to a sympathetic friend.

Before making what appears to be a harmless decision, stop and evaluate the cost. Success is less about having the right stuff than it is about choosing the right way. A lot of little choices done God’s way will add up to a lifetime of purpose.Jennifer Schuchmann

Let’s Talk

Beginning with Samson’s birth in Judges 13, examine the decisions that Samson made in his life. Which ones led him to God? Which ones separated him from God?

What were the costs Samson paid for his decisions?

As a Nazirite, Samson had specific things that set him apart for God. What things set us apart for God? What sets our marriage apart as a Christian marriage?

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About Me

I'm author of History in a Year by the Conservative Voice aka History of the World in a Year by the Conservative Voice.

I'm the Conservative Voice.

I'm looking to make contact with those who might use my skill.

I have an m-audio mobile pre amp fed by the audiotechnica 2041sp condensor mic pack. Prior to 15/4/06, I'd used a Shure sm-58 that required a nuclear blast to register a sound or the internal mic of my aged imac, which has a penchance to recording my breathing. I also used a Griffin itrip, until the community convinced me it was not hiding my talent as well as the other mics.

I am a Writer and an occasional Math Teacher (Sir, what's the occasion?). I like to sing, having no instrumental talent (cannot even clap in time, and yes, I'm aware singing badly IS obnoxious).

I have performed the finale to Les Miserables before an audience of 500. I have also sung before a similar audience (students, parents) renditions of 'I Will' (Beatles), 'Mr Cairo' (Jon Vangelis) and 'I am Australian' (Seekers). Now I seek another profession because the audience hates me ..